Kevin Feige says Marvel Studios Fox merger won’t happen soon

While the mega-merger between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and 21st Century Fox (which controls the X-Men and Fantastic Four rights) won’t happen for another 18 months due to legalities, fans expect MCU head honcho Kevin Feige to already have a plan in place. In fact, he does not, and he told Vulture during promotions for Black Panther that he wasn’t even in the loop on the deal until after the fact.

“I read about it in the press like most people did,”Feige said. “These are big deals, and certainly above my pay grade.”

While Feige has famously indicated in the past that Marvel Studios has contingency plans in case any wayward characters like Fantastic Four or X-Men should find their way back to the House of Ideas proper, he states (perhaps coyly) that there has been zilch planning about the repercussions of the merger.

“The truth of the matter as I understand it is the deal has to be figured out,” said Feige. “There’s been no communication. We’re not thinking about it. We’re focusing on everything we’ve already announced. If and when the deal actually happens, we’ll start to think more about it. Until then, we have a lot to do… It would be years away. We’ve announced everything through 2019, so none of those would be adjusted. I think about it through 2019, through the movies we’ve already shot or are about to start filming. I’m hoping to deliver on everything we’ve promised thus far.”

The current state of the MCU after Black Panther opens on February 16 is fairly clear. This year Avengers: Infinity War will open on May 4, 2018, followed by Ant-Man and The Wasp two months later on July 6, 2018. The Captain Marvel movie starring Brie Larson, which just began filming, will kick off next year’s crop on March 8, 2019. The untitled fourth Avengers film, which just wrapped shooting, will open on May 3, 2019, thus ending Phase 3 of the MCU. Phase 4 will likely kick off on July 5, 2019 with Jon Watts’ Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, and beyond that the only other confirmed film is James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which will open sometime in 2020. A Black Widow solo movie is also being mulled for a 2020 release, with Jac Schaeffer reportedly penning the script. Given that Marvel has begun releasing three movies a year, expect at least one unannounced film to fill that third slot for 2020.

Other films beyond the Fox/Marvel merger that could fill those dates include Doctor Strange 2 and, because we know Marvel would never leave a trilogy hanging, likely an Ant-Man 3. On pure speculation, given how huge Black Panther is expected to open, don’t be surprised if a Black Panther 2 gets announced as well, granting Marvel their own James Bond-ian franchise. There have also been rumors of Blade being integrated into the MCU proper, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

How would you like Fantastic Four and X-Men to be integrated into the MCU? Who would be a good director to lead those projects? Let us know in the comments below!